We left at 830 AM for an all day Wine Tasting with Francois, the owner of Avignon Wine Tour. We drove an hour or so to tour 4 wineries north of Avignon. We had lunch and he drove us through a few of the old villages. Francois wore a bright orange/red suit and had a lot of personality. Prior to starting his wine tour company 18 years ago, he was a maitre-de for nearly 20 years. He changed careers because being on his feet 14 hours a day was not sustainable. He knew food, wines and Provence so it seems to be a good fit.
We spent an hour at the first winery going carefully through the steps of wine tasting: Color, first nose, second nose, legs, taste and 3rd nose. There are 7 categories of smells/tastes: flowers, fruits, food sensation, soil, spices, leather/oak and animal. There are 85 individual scents. People who can identify all 85 are called “noses” and there are about 100 “noses” in the world.
There was one major rule – use glasses with stems and never hold the wine by the glass – always the stem so you do not transfer body heat to the wine. When it is warm outside, always do small pours so wine can stay cool in the bottle. Screw tops are fine for white and rose but they only keep wine good for about 3 years. Red should have cork. We learned how to guess the vintage by the color – ❤ years, 3-9 years and > 9 years.
Francois took notes as he was teaching us and he gave us the notes at the end.
The day was warm and sunny and the countryside was gorgeous.
One of the wine tasting places was an old home that was converted maintaining elements of her grandmothers kitchen.
When we returned home, we were finally about to sit out on our little terrace for more wine and snacks.
Tamara Unleashed 